Taylor Swift and the Matty Healy backlash
It's Gossip Time!
Hello and welcome to Gossip Time, a weekly guide to the stars by Allie Jones. This week: a pop star doubles down on her new boyfriend, another pop star finds a new model, and Blake Lively wears pants on pants.
In the last few weeks, Taylor Swift has made sure everyone knows what’s really important right now, which is that Taylor Swift has a new boyfriend. His name is Matty Healy, and he is the lead singer of The 1975. Swift, 33, and Healy, 34, have been spotted by the paparazzi several times together since The Sun first reported they were dating on May 3; it appears that Healy has been following Swift around on her tour. On Wednesday, they were papped walking into Leo DiCaprio’s favorite members-only club in New York, Zero Bond, with current Swift squad members Margaret Qualley, Jack Antonoff, Phoebe Bridgers, and Zoë Kravitz. According to a source who spoke exclusively with People, "Taylor and Matty were kissing” inside the venue. Wow!
In short, Swift has been pushing this new relationship HARD — with middling success. For the first time in her long career dating other famous people, a not-insignificant number of her fans disapprove of her choice. Some have even started a petition for her to dump Healy and apologize because of racist and otherwise ill-considered remarks he’s made over the years.
The most recent example is from February, when Healy appeared on comedian Adam Friedland’s podcast and made a series of racist comments and freely admitted to watching porn that degrades and humiliates Black women. He also mocked the rapper Ice Spice, who had previously said she was a fan of Healy’s in an interview. BuzzFeed has an in-depth recap of the podcast if you want the details (warning: it’s all gross).
For his part, Healy randomly apologized to Ice Spice during one of his band’s shows in New Zealand in April (without mentioning any of his other comments on the podcast). The timing of this particular apology is interesting: This was about a week after Swift leaked the news that she had broken up with Joe Alwyn and two weeks before she went public with Healy. Then, this week, as Swiftie backlash against Healy was reaching a fever pitch, Swift announced she had recorded a remix of her song “Karma” featuring none other than…Ice Spice.
“I’m a massive fan of this brilliant artist and after getting to know her I can confirm: she is THE ONE to watch,” Swift wrote of the 23-year-old rapper in her announcement.
Of course, Swift has not addressed her relationship with Healy or her thoughts about his comments directly. Will this (bold, obvious) move placate her concerned fans? Probably not, but it does show that Swift hears what people say about her. I remain curious why she is so invested in the Healy relationship in the first place.
In less controversial dating news, Swift’s other ex-boyfriend Harry Styles is reportedly “cozying up” to Candice Swanepoel. The Sun reported this week that Styles, 29, has “grown close” to the 34-year-old Victoria’s Secret model. It’s unclear how they met, but the tabloid noted that Styles has dated several Victoria’s Secret models before, including Sara Sampaio and Georgia Fowler. Unfortunately, beyond that compelling link, The Sun was unable to provide any evidence of this new relationship, photographic or otherwise.
That said, it now seems unlikely that we will get to see any more photos of Styles making out with Emily Ratajkowski next to mini-vans. Perhaps this will provide some relief to Olivia Wilde.
STUFF BY HILARY DUFF: Hilary Duff is on the cover of Marie Claire…Greece!
Finally, I’ll leave you with some news about Blake Lively:
That headline, from our friends at Just Jared, is accurate.
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not to mention she just released the corniest and least subtle break up song I've ever heard! I saw people theorizing that she's trying to piss Joe Alwyn off and I believe it, maybe if only because I aspire to be that petty
#TeamHaylor